Key Takeaways: The 2025 Marketing Vanguard Summit

In a time when the only constant in marketing is change, more than 100 senior marketing leaders gathered at the 2025 ADWEEK Marketing Vanguard Summit to do what they do best: challenge convention and chart the future. But this wasnʼt your typical conference. Every attendee was dubbed a “Provocateur,” and from poetry workshops to personal stories of failure, the tone was radically human—and deeply strategic.

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TEAR UP THE PLAYBOOK AND START OVER

“Change the unchangeable” isnʼt just a slogan—itʼs the job.

Many CMOs talked about completely overhauling how they go to market. One leader described revamping airline marketing from stodgy visuals and stock phrases to bold, crisis-proof storytelling.